20-seiki shônen: Honkaku kagaku bôken eiga (20th Century Boys 1: Beginning of the End) (2008)

33% of critics liked it
(12 reviews)
66% of users liked it
(1,918 ratings)

A burned-out rocker discovers his doom-struck adolescent fantasies are coming true in this futuristic thriller from Japan. Ever since his career as a musician crashed and burned, Kenji (Toshiaki Karasawa) has been making a living working at a quick-stop store and living with his family. One day,… More A burned-out rocker discovers his doom-struck adolescent fantasies are coming true in this futuristic thriller from Japan. Ever since his career as a musician crashed and burned, Kenji (Toshiaki Karasawa) has been making a living working at a quick-stop store and living with his family. One day, police officers stop by and ask Kenji about a family of regular customers who've gone missing, though Kenji has hardly noticed their absence. When Kenji visits the home of the missing family, he notices a strange piece of graffiti on the wall, and is startled when he remembers it was the symbol of a club of teenage misfits he belonged to years ago. Kenji and his friends in the club created an amateur comic book that imagined an apocalyptic future in which strange illnesses and bands of armed insurgents threatened to destroy the world. As a wave of unexplained murders sweeps through the city, overseas the events of Kenji's old comic are beginning to come true; a fanatical cult known as Friend found the book and under the leadership of Sadakiyo they've made it their business to turn it into a reality, and now Kenji and his old friends have to infiltrate the cult and stop them before it's too late. 20-seiki shonen (aka 20th Century Boys) was adapted from a best selling manga by Naoki Urasawa and became a major box office hit in Japan. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 22 min.
Directed By: Yukihiko Tsutsumi
Written By: Naoki Urasawa, Takashi Nagasaki, Yasushi Fukuda, Yusuke Watanabe
Genres: Art House & International, Science Fiction & Fantasy

In Theaters: Aug 30, 2008 Wide
On DVD: Dec 15, 2009

Critic Reviews

Anton Bitel, Eye for Film
Tsutsumi...dazzles us with so many balls in the air, so many twists and turns, that there is not enough room left for his characters to develop as believable, interesting people, as opposed to comicbook archetypes.
Sean Axmaker, Seanax.com
Not quite science fiction and as surreal a conspiratorial epic as you'll find, this dense thriller has a distinctively Japanese sensibility.
Sarah Boslaugh, Playback:stl
...has that crazy mix of genres and conventions which you often find in Japanese film and has the added benefit of not taking itself too seriously.
Edward Porter, Sunday Times (UK)
We're being reminded of the banality of evil, but that only slightly raises the IQ of Yukihiko Tsutsumi's film.
Philip French, Observer [UK]
The dramatic premise is ingenious and there are two future lengthy episodes to come. But I was often baffled.
Jon Williams, Little White Lies
20th Century Boys has an excellent pedigree, a huge budget behind it, and a more than competent cast -but it doesn't quite work.
Cath Clarke, Guardian [UK]
The original may have sold 20m copies but they should have kept creator Naoki Urasawa away from this script - whole swathes ought have been gutted, making for a very long and unfailingly shallow 142 minutes.
Justin Bowyer, Empire Magazine
Headache-inducingly convoluted plot and cast of characters but the action and faithfulness to the series is impressive. Be aware that this is definitely a trilogy and the ending reflects this.
Trevor Johnston, Time Out
The ideas are fun, there are some striking design ideas (the villain's commonplace-yet-freaky mask), yet the clogged storytelling just doesn't make enough of them. Shame.
Holly Grigg-Spall, Film4
A dry run through of the principle players and scene setting for the real action and adventure to come in installments two and three of this manga based trilogy.
Wendy Ide, Times [UK]
It's mildly interesting but inelegantly structured, unfolding through a mess of flashbacks and shocking overacting.
Rob Daniel, Sky Movies
Director of all trades Tsutsumi combines eyeball straining pop-promo visuals with the TV drama look that has blighted a lot of recent Japanese cinema, but deserves kudos for juggling timelines and characters so effectively.
Matt Mueller, Total Film
20th Century Boys whisks wacko cults, city-stomping robots and the power of rock'n'roll into a bizarre brew that will delight converts but possibly bewilder the uninitiated.

Read all 13 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Alexander W

This is a pretty good movie. I've been watching a few Asian movies at the moment and fit right in there. Its a quite clever story that I have not heard or seen before and I enjoyed it. If only the acting was more improved and the special effects directing was not at all jaw… More
This is a pretty good movie. I've been watching a few Asian movies at the moment and fit right in there. Its a quite clever story that I have not heard or seen before and I enjoyed it. If only the acting was more improved and the special effects directing was not at all jaw dropping.
Justin Y

Yukihiko Tsutsumi gets the honor of bringing the popular 20th Century Boys manga to life. As you may have guessed, T. Rex's famous song, "20th Century Boy" is an inspiration for this.At 2 hours and 20 minutes, this movie alone is not enough,… More
Yukihiko Tsutsumi gets the honor of bringing the popular 20th Century Boys manga to life. As you may have guessed, T. Rex's famous song, "20th Century Boy" is an inspiration for this.At 2 hours and 20 minutes, this movie alone is not enough, which is why this live action adaptation is only the first chapter with an ending that indicates a chapter 2. One of the disappointing aspects of this movie is that it takes a while to pick up because a lot of time is spent on the character buildup and the story background. This isn't a bad thing, but the film seems pretty uneventful for more than the first hour. Nonetheless, the buildup is nicely done and important, albeit attention is required.The film spans multiple decades. We are talking from the 1960s up to the year 2014, with the bulk of it taking place in the 90s and 2000. Why am I mentioning this? Well, the film jumps around a bunch, which in the beginning, makes the characters a little difficult to follow and remember. There are a good number of characters by the way. On the positive side, the jumping around in time keeps the story interesting.Eventually the second half of the film focuses on the older versions of the characters as they reunite to fight evil. This is similar to Stephen King's It. The effects are nicely done and the only a few plot holes really hurt the latter segments.Toshiaki Karasawa carries this film without a problem and most of the supporting cast do their jobs, including the beautiful Takako Tokiwa.20th Century Boys takes a while to get going, but it is interesting enough to make those that haven't read the manga want to.
Marcus W

Somewhere between Twelve Monkeys and It, rests this rather brilliant epic, sic-fi, Japanese thing. And it's absolutely Japanese, from the fight choreograhpy to the "end of the world via giant robot" spiel. But it's strength lies in it's writing and the way it… More
Somewhere between Twelve Monkeys and It, rests this rather brilliant epic, sic-fi, Japanese thing. And it's absolutely Japanese, from the fight choreograhpy to the "end of the world via giant robot" spiel. But it's strength lies in it's writing and the way it slowly reveals itself - much like "Friend", by way of flashbacks to a childhood game that one of them took to the extreme. Recommended for anime/manga fans.